ABSTRACT

This chapter considers the impact of recent policy directives for New Zealand's schools that have had substantial impact on high-stakes assessment of foreign language students' spoken proficiency in senior years. It considers the tensions emerging when, informed by different principles in policy, the benefits of embedding the assessment into the learning are challenged by accountability requirements of high-stakes assessment. The chapter presents the New Zealand case to represent a new direction in language assessment. It provides an assessment option which is arguably in accord with the principle of putting knowledge of a language to use in communicating with people in various settings and situations. The chapter draws principally on evidence derived from instances of spoken interaction that take place in the context of the teaching and learning programme and that build in opportunities for feedback and feedforward. It focuses on the New Zealand's stance towards learning and assessment and articulates the instance of assessment.